Friday, 27 September 2013

I bought the Nivea Pure and Natural range a few weeks ago and thought it was about time to review it, as I've now been using it for a while and know more about how it's reacting to my skin.

I've used Nivea products before, having very dry and sensitive skin, it's really good and I'll admit I don't moisturize a lot at the moment and that's down to pure laziness. Then I complain about having scabs on my legs, well that's what happens when you scratch and scratch and do nothing about it..! So learn from me and moisturize, DON'T scratch if your legs or arms get itchy. It'll just make it worse and sore. Nivea's very good and I like the Vaseline cocoa butter too. Anyway, the products I bought were actually for my face, so I should stop rambling and get onto that.

The three products were: Cleansing Lotion, Cleansing Toner and the Soothing Day Cream. Before I used the Boots Tea Tree and Witch-hazel range and while that was good, I started not to like it after a while. But with the Nivea, straight away it makes my skin feel smooth and clean. You know that feeling you sometimes get on your face, even after having a shower and washing it, where it just still doesn't feel clean? Well this really does take that away and I feel squeaky clean, not to sound too cheesy saying that. And with it being only a few weeks since I've been using it, I've already seen a difference. My skin looks more hydrated and even though I don't get many spots (I usually just have one in the most unfortunate place like the middle of my forehead that's really obvious), I haven't had any sign of spots or bad skin since using it. Maybe that's just luck though but still, I'm liking it very much.

The Cleansing and Lotion toner both have bio argan oil and bio aloe vera. Everyone raves about argan oil and I haven't actually used it before this, but I can see why everyone likes it so much. And the products all smell really nice. It's not overly perfumed, so it's not overpowering - which I really can't stand in lotions as for one I'll probably end up having an allergic reaction to it or two it just doesn't feel like it'll do me much good because it's not that natural.

With the toner, you obviously put it on with a cotton wool but with the cleanser, it says you can use either your fingers or a cotton wool. I've tried it both ways just to see which I preferred and I think I prefer it with my fingers. Of course my hands are cleaned before I do it but I just find that with a cotton wool you don't get as much of it onto your skin as you do with your hands, because it'll soak into the wool. Whereas if you use your fingers, you can massage it well onto your face and it just feels like you're not wasting the product and your skin is getting the most out it. It's up to you how you use it, but that's just my personal preference. And the soothing day cream comes in the cutest little glass pot, which is great and you can use it once it's finished. I've still got a lot left but I know I'm going to be buying this again.

Saturday, 21 September 2013

Yesterday I tried my first attempt at making some piadine. They're italian flatbread and as a lover of bread these are the best things ever. You can eat them with almost anything, hot or cold, as a sandwich, with soup, with a dip or even by itself. My favourite is with some salami and rocket, yum. Mine don't look the best but the did taste how they're meant to so that was a success. They're meant to be more round though.

I took the recipe ""Piadine Romagnole - Flatbread flavoured with oregano" from Gino D'Acampo's "Italian Home Baking" book. It's a really easy recipe to follow and these don't take long at all to make. The writing in the parenthesis below is my own words but the rest is credit to Gino D'Acampo and taken out of the book.Ingredients (makes 4 piadine):

180g strong white flour (I used plain flour and it worked just as well) plus some extra for dusting

1 teaspoon of dried oregano

1 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil plus extra for brushing

110ml warm water

Instructions

Brush the inside of a large bowl with oil.

Sift the flour in a large bowl (not the oiled bowl mentioned above); add in the oregano and the salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil with the water. Mix all the ingredients together to form a dough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in the oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rest in a warm place away from draughts for 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each one into an 18cm disc. Cover with a tea towel until ready to cook.

Lightly oil a large frying pan and place over a medium heat.

Cook each disc for 1 minutes on each side until they re staring to brown all over.

Saturday, 14 September 2013

Some of you probably already know this with me constantly tweeting about it lately, but I've been wanting my hair cut for a while and I finally got it cut! It was getting too long and my hair was getting scraggly at the ends, so I had quite a lot cut off and a few layers put in. Now there's a lot more volume to it and because my hair is naturally curly, it can go probably curly again now, whereas before there was too much weight to my hair for it to curl. I'm really pleased with it :) and I'm going to get it coloured at some point too, but nothing too drastic or that would look horrible.

I also received a great bit of news, I had a job interview on Thursday and found out this afternoon that I got the job!

Saturday, 7 September 2013

I recently got The Sunshine Award nominated by Alice @ Mutterings of a Teenager and The Very Inspiring Blogger Award from Hannah @ The Hannah Lucy Diaries, it goes without saying it put a huge smile on my face. Thank you so much to both of you! Please check their blogs out, they're both really lovely people.

I'd only heard briefly of the Sunshine Award before. It's an award given by bloggers to other bloggers who brighten your day and encourage you to grow your blog and yourself. It's so nice to know that someone thinks that of my blog and I'm really glad people enjoy reading it. And to get another nomination for The Very Inspiring Blogger Award (the explanation speaks for itself) made me feel even happier. Being part of the blogging community is so much fun and I'm so glad I've started blogging and am now a part of it.

I thought I'd put them both in the same post seeing as I have to write 7 facts for each and thought it would make more sense if I just shared the facts between the two. I'm not someone who finds it easy to think of facts about myself, but who is?

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award
1. Display the logo on your blog
2. Link back to the person who nominated you (of course!)
3. Share 7 Facts about yourself
4. Nominate 10 other blogs of your choice to receive the award
5. Let them know you have nominated them (best to do via twitter!)

7 Facts

I have a cat called Cooper

You know how you can cross your eyes, I can also can make one of my eyes look inward while looking straight on with the other.

I love sunflowers and poppies.

I have no idea what I want to do with my life career wise.

I prefer sweets to chocolate. At the moment I love Skittles and Haribo Tangfastics (until I eat too many and put myself off them for a while aha).

I really want to jump out of a plane for charity, that sounds like so much fun.

I adore Ted Baker, the bags and clothes and accessories are just beautiful!

Monday, 2 September 2013

On Sunday I went to the lovely Sophie's meet up! (Thank you for organizing it!) It was my first ever bloggers meet up and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to meet. Everyone was so friendly and kind. I was so so nervous beforehand but soon relaxed after meeting everyone.

I met Sophie at the station and we went down to London together and then waited for everyone at Piccadilly Circus. We went off into various little groups to the shops.

I've tried to remember all the shops we went in, but I'm probably missing out some. We went to Topshop, where me and Becca went into the Photobooth. aha It didn't really work in a lot of the photos because we didn't know that as soon as you put the money in it starts flashing, you have to be so quick!

We went back to the photooboth later on and I went in with Thalia, Sophie and Perdi. We then proceeded to Boots, New Look, & Other Stories, Monki and the Makeup Store, before meeting at the diner at 2. I'd never been in to & Other Stories or Monki before and definitely need to go back, they have some really nice things in there.

The food was so good. It looks worse than it is aha. I had the Coney Island Dog with fries, assumed it was a chilli hotdog as in it being spicy but turns out it was chilli con carne (which I don't like at all), what a weird combination?! But it was nice. And to my suprise I was actually one of the last people still eating at my table aha, normally my food is gone within minutes! I even had to leave some, the portions were huge, that's American food for you aha. I'd never been to an American diner before and always wanted to go and it was really nice. Thenafter some more photos, we went off to the shops again, one of them being The Pixi Shop - they had so many nice things in there, the nail varnishes looked so pretty!